Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 392

Treme Season 2 Concludes

Treme Season 2 wrapped up business last night with a mostly happy ending -
Albert is finally happy!  Yes, he is - he likes the money he made with his and Delmond's and the all-star recording, and he's up for more.Janette's not only back in New Orleans - to open her own restaurant, this time with some strong money backing - but she's in bed with her sous-chef Jacques.   Glad to see it - good for both of them.Davis is back on the air - at least, as a substitute host for a night.  Otherwise, he's come to terms with his not be being a big star.  He's still together with Annie - but I bet that she gets back with Sonny next year, and Janette has a least one roll with Davis.Sophia has come to terms with her father's suicide.LaDonna is finally back to her feisty self - getting to righteously beat on one of her vicious attackers.  After meting out this justified piece of personal justice, she feels better about the bar and her patient husband.That's the good news.  On the other side of the ledger -
Toni and Terry seem pretty close to finished - at least, for now - after Terry rudely badgers Toni for some evidence in a murder.  It's all for a good cause, but Toni doesn't know that.Nelson has to take a break from N.O. - his backer cuts him loose, because of his association with Oliver Thomas.Speaking of which, the Councilman is out of the race for Mayor, and arrested for bribery, just as happened in real life.Kudos again to Thomas for playing himself - he did a good job - and to Treme's producers for giving him this role.

It was a good season - not as exciting as the first season, but weaving together an engrossing set of stories.   And the music was always great.   In fact, for this last episode, I have no favorite, because I loved them all - every swinging performance - especially the dazzling work at the Jazz Fest.

I'll see you here next year.  (By the way, I didn't get a chance to review last week's episode, but I liked it just fine.)

See also Treme Is Back! ... Treme 2.2: Bounce and Jazz ... Treme 2.3: Crime and Music ... Treme 2.4: Angry Albert ... Treme 2.5: "Today I'm Gonna Write a Song" ... Treme 2.6: "Phil Ochs Said" ... Treme 2.7: "One-Murder Mardis Gras" ... Treme 2.8: Antoine's Music ... Treme 2.9: Pied Pipers

And also Treme! ... Treme 1.2: "If you ain't been to heaven" ... Treme 1.3: Fine Sweet and Sour ... Treme 1.4: New Orleans, New York, Nashville ... Treme 1.5: Delicious! ... Treme 1.8: Passions and Dreams ... Treme 1.9: Creighton ... Treme Season One Finale: Happy Sad Life

And: My Favorite Moment in Treme (Season One)


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The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

True Blood Back for Season 4

True Blood's back for its 4th season.   Sookie has been in fairy world for just a few minutes, but back in the more or less real world gone for more than a year.   The most interesting developments in her absence -
Bill is now King of Louisiana, and the job finally fits his bearing well. Eric is still sheriff, and still deeply wanting Sookie.   And he has this advantage in that pursuit: he bought Sookie's house while she was away.  This means he does not need her permission to enter.  Sookie, of course, could move away, but we're dealing with Sookie here.Jason is now full-fledged police, and involved with those panther people.Married life isn't all Jessica and Hoyt hoped it would be.Arlene's baby boy may be a little monster, literally.There's a coven of witches on hand - the newest supernatural element.Tara's in New Orleans (hey, HBO has back-to-back Orleans dramas now, with Treme) These are a pretty good set of new ingredients, and Sookie's year off has also given all the humans a chance to grow a year older, and look so.  This includes Sookie herself, which suggests that she quickly aged a year while she was away.  Bill and Eric look much the same, which makes sense, since vampires don't age.  But Jessica definitely looks older  (and she looks great) - no longer like a teenager - and this does not make much sense, since Jessica is a vampire, too.

My daughter tells me that the fourth novel in the book series on which season 4 is based is one of the best.   It's off to a good start.

See also: True Blood 3.1: Oxygen vs. Phone ... True Blood 3.2: King and Wolves ... True Blood 3.3: Rolling Eyes and Spinning Heads ...
See also from Season 2  True Blood Pours Back In and  Love and True Blood in the Air and Likes Coming Together in True Blood and True Blood Boiling and Godric, Eric, and Sookie on the Roof and Maryann vs. the Good in True Blood and Illusion, Eisenhower, and Texting and True Blood Season 2 Finale

See also from Season 1  True Blood Calling ... Penultimate True Blood ... Last Bite of the Season


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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Falling Skies 1.3 meets The Puppet Masters

Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters (1951) is one of my favorite novels from the 1950s (not so much the movie adaptation from 1994).   When I first read the novel of gelatinous aliens attached to our lower backs - as a kid, in the late 1950s - I was blown away by its power and implicit sexuality.   Not only could any soldier in uniform be suspect, so could any potential lover, until she or he totally disrobed.

Lots of subsequent science fiction - most notably, Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers (1955), and four subsequent movie adaptations - picked up on aspects of this theme.  And so has Falling Skies.

The twist with Falling Skies is that the insect aliens attach a mechanical-organic device to the backs of human children, which turn them into zombie slaves, and at this point result in the death of the carrier if the device is removed.   One of Tom's sons has been so harnessed, and his burning desire to get back and free his son - which any parent would have - is one of the mainsprings of the plot.

A doc may have a way of removing the alien spine without killing the carrier, but the process is untested, and Tom has no love for the doc, given that the doc earlier left Tom's wife to die so the doc could escape.  In one of the best lines of the episode, the doc says to Tom that the doc's survival at the expense of Tom's wife may be the factor enables Tom to get back and free his son, so Tom's wife may not have died in vain.

But this assumes that the doc's procedure actually works, and, as we see in the last scene, it may work but not in the way that we humans hoped ...

See also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ...

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...
And check out my short history of science fiction, from The History Channel -

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

US Supreme Court Wisely Strikes Down California Ban on Video Games

Good news for video game enthusiasts and First Amendment advocates: the US Supreme Court today wisely struck down a California ban on sale of video games to minors.   The 7-2 majority found that the ratings system was more than enough to guide parents.

The fact that the decision was 7-2 is itself highly noteworthy.  Conservative justice Scalia wrote the majority opinion.  It was joined by the other four conservatives and by progressives Ginsberg and Sotomayor.   This a hopeful development indeed for people who take the First Amendment seriously, and its prohibition of government restriction of communication and media.  It also shows that I was wrong when I expressed concern about Sotomayor's First Amendment views.

A debate I had with anti-videogame crusader Jack Thompson a few years ago follows.

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Treme 2.9: Pied Pipers

Well, my favorite sequence in the brutally ending Treme 2.9 features Antoine and trumpet player Kermit Ruffins (playing himself, of course).  Antoine's audience is a little low - in numbers - in the club his band is playing.  He soon learns why: Kermit is knocking 'em dead a few feet down the street.

But Antoine has an idea.  He walks over to Kermit's club.  Kermit sees him and invites him on the stage, where Antoine beguiles the crowd with his music.  He leaves and tells everyone where they can hear more of it.  The crowd follows him back to his club.

But wily Kermit is not be outdone.  He soon shows at Antoine's club, and plays the best trumpet you and I ever heard - had I been able to go through the screen, I'd have have joined the crowd that followed Kermit back to his club.  Even without me, the crowd was bigger than the one Antoine wooed away.

A great sequence.

But this is New Orleans more than a year after Katrina, and crime is viciously on the rise, as we've seen all season.   And before the night is over, Harley Watt - played by Steve Earle - will be shot dead in front of Annie's horrified eyes.  His mistake?  He gave a little advice to a mugger, after giving him his money.  Muggers don't like being lectured in New Orleans.

The pace has now picked up.  With Colson now on the murder squad, he'll be directly involved in Watt's murder case.  Just two more episodes left to see how this all plays out.

And here, in honor of Harley Watt, is a taste of Steve Earle's great song This City, from the first season of Treme ...

See also Treme Is Back! ... Treme 2.2: Bounce and Jazz ... Treme 2.3: Crime and Music ... Treme 2.4: Angry Albert ... Treme 2.5: "Today I'm Gonna Write a Song" ... Treme 2.6: "Phil Ochs Said" ... Treme 2.7: "One-Murder Mardis Gras" ... Treme 2.8: Antoine's Music

And also Treme! ... Treme 1.2: "If you ain't been to heaven" ... Treme 1.3: Fine Sweet and Sour ... Treme 1.4: New Orleans, New York, Nashville ... Treme 1.5: Delicious! ... Treme 1.8: Passions and Dreams ... Treme 1.9: Creighton ... Treme Season One Finale: Happy Sad Life

And: My Favorite Moment in Treme (Season One)


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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Falling Skies

Caught the first two episodes of TNT's Falling Skies.  Quite good.

More like The Walking Dead and The Terminator than V - much closer to the ground - Falling Skies is probably most like H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds.  Steven Spielberg had a hand in both the 2005 movie version of War of the Worlds and the new Falling Skies, which so far looks considerably better than the movie.

It's good to see Noah Wyle back on television, best known for his great work in ER.  Moon Bloodgood, in such shortlived science fiction gems as Daybreak and Journeyman - seriously - and on the cover of Maxim, too, plays a pediatrician with the freedom fighters.  The rest of the cast is also good and believable.

The most-of-humanity-wiped-out motif is not an easy one to bring to a television series, despite the success of The Walking Dead, at least so far.  Come to think of it, Battlestar Galactica succeeded with this, too - except out in space not with alien invaders down on Earth - though its success, unfortunately, was more with critics than big numbers of viewers.   If television's prime advantage is to provide a little relief and release from the hard day, you can see why apocalyptic stories have such a tough time of it.  On the other hand, it's not as if Criminal Minds is such a joy ride, and it's generally a winner in the ratings.

Well, I'll be watching Falling Skies even its ratings fall, which, with any luck, will move in the opposite direction.

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Keith Olbermann back on Countdown - Now on Current TV

Great to see Keith Olbermann back on Countdown - on Current TV.  Agree or not with his views and stylings, his return proves that a spineless, often brainless network - in this case, MSNBC - does not necessarily get the last word, when it tires for whatever reasons of its vibrant, provocative talent.

To the content of tonight's Countdown -
Excellent discussion of the unconstitutionality of our war in Libya, with Michael Moore. I agree completely that the pursuit of this military action - or war - without  Congressional approval (not to mention Declaration of War) is one of the most disheartening, dangerous activities of the Obama administration.John Dean talking about the Supreme Court decision - 5-4 - upholding Walmart.  I agree that this was a bad decision.  But, unlike Olbermann and Dean, I don't think everything this court has done regarding corporations is bad.  For example, I agree with the Court that corporations are entitled to all the protections of the First Amendment - speech is speech, and government should steer clear of regulating it."Time Marches On" - replacement segment for "Oddball" on the original Countdown, the title of which was a take-off on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" on MSNBC.   The new version with the new title is as funny as the original - meaning, evoking smiles to occasional chuckles and sometimes more.Good expose with Politico's Ken Vogel about conservative radio talkshow hosts promoting political positions for advertising revenue on their shows.  (But Keith, this compares to payola in 1950s radio in no significant way - payola was a classic victimless "crime," and its prosecution by the Feds was motivated by a discomfort with rock 'n' roll.)Good "Worst Persons in the World" - my favorite was the runner-up, in which Fox edited out Jon Stewart's mention of Fox exec Bill Sammon giving ideological "marching orders" to news commentators (from Chris Wallace's Sunday show).Bombshell closer with Markos Moulitsas - founder and publisher of the Daily Kos - in which he explains his absence from MSNBC for more than a year: he antagonized morning anchor Joe Scarborough, who pressured MSNBC to keep Moulitsas off Olbermann's and every other evening show on MSNBC.  If true, MSNBC is even lamer than I thought, and owes its viewers and Moulitsas an apology.Hey, I rarely if ever review cable news shows as such, so don't expect many more posts like this, for the new Countdown or any other news shows.  But I expect to keep watching it - as well as, yes, MSNBC - and I'm certainly glad that the progressive voice has a new, additional home.  Our democracy is best served by as many progressive, conservative, and in-between voices on the air as possible. Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Game of Thrones 1.10 Meets True Blood

From the beginning of Game of Thrones, we've had two sources of supernatural - the strange creatures of the far north, who will be coming on strong when Winter comes again, and the dragons that Daenerys is so obsesses with, in that horseman land across the sea.   Until last night, the monsters of the north were much more real.  But Game of Thrones ended its first season with a pride of real dragon hatchlings around Daenerys.

Based on just the television series so far, we don't have much information on what the dragons can do.  Certainly more massive damage than direwolves, which means that even without a horde of horsemen, Daenerys is in good shape to retake to her kingdoms and the Iron Throne.   And the horsemen will be tempted to rejoin her when they learn of the dragons.

As to the Iron Throne even without Daenerys, it does look, at this point, that Ned is dead - certainly a head that looks like his is on the pole - but it wouldn't shock me if, via some power of the north, he either returns in the future or was not truly killed in the first place.   At any rate, in his likely permanent absence, Joffrey continues as the vicious king, with Tyrion to join him as the new Hand.

As I indicated when I reviewed the George R.R. Martin's first novel in the mid-1990s, I'm not delighted with the dragons suddenly reborn at the end of this story.   That one development changes the whole story - far more profoundly than even Ned's death - and injects much more fantasy into the narrative, giving it a distant kinship with True Blood, which resumes on HBO next week.  But I'll be looking forward to where the dragons lead in Game of Thrones the next season.

See also A Game of Thrones: My 1996 Review of the First Novel ... Game of Thrones Begins Greatly on HBO ... Game of Thrones 1.2: Prince, Wolf, Bastard, Dwarf ... Games of Thrones 1.3: Genuine Demons ... Game of Thrones 1.4: Broken Things  ... Game of Thrones 1.5: Ned Under Seige ... Game of Thrones 1.6: Molten Ever After ... Games of Thrones 1.7: Swiveling Pieces ... Game of Thrones 1.8: Star Wars of the Realms ... Game of Thrones 1.9: Is Ned Really Dead?


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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

The Killing 1.13: Stretching Television

So The Killing concluded its excellent first season on AMC last night not with a revelation of the killer and a resolution of the killing but with an unexpected smack of a twist, a cliffhanger, and (of course) Linden yet again being torn from the plane with her son.

You just knew that whatever the ending, it couldn't be conducive to Linden's plans from the beginning of the series to get out of Seattle.   So when you see her on the plane, and get that call, and look at the expression on her face, you just knew that this pain on the plane was bound to happen.  Linden is stuck to Seattle worse than a fly to flypaper.

But the content of that call - the reason for her pain - was totally unexpected.   She thought she had wrapped up the case, with Holder's help.   Except the photo he had supplied of Richmond at the crucial tollbooth was bogus.   And that raises at least a few episodes and likely more of new questions:

1. Why did Holder fake the photograph?   Because he's Rosie's killer?  Nah.   Because he was sure Richmond was the killer, and wanted to nail him, by whatever means?  More likely.   Because he was paid by Richmond's enemies to do this?   That's sorta likely, too.

2. Who was in the car that Holder gets into at the end?   The call girl he had interviewed last week?  Not likely - what was her motive?   Jamie and I think Gwen were at the Richmond rally (see below), but I'm still suspecting Gwen for something no good in all of this mess.   How about Mitch - all we know about her at this moment is Stan stays she's gone.    And there are Richmond's political enemies, as I indicated above, or their operatives.  First on this list would be the mayor.

3. The cliffhanger is that Richmond may not survive Belko's assassination attempt at the rally.  In fact, we all but see Belko pull the trigger at point-blank range.  But in television land, almost anything is possible, including a hand at the last minute pushing Belko aside.


The Killing has certainly stretched what we can expect of television, including, now, not ending a season about a killing with the unmasking of the killer.  Pulling Holder out of the hat as a bad guy in some way was a brilliant move, especially because we (and Linden) had really grown to like him in the past few episodes.  This is all to the good - too many correct expectations has always been the enemy of good narrative.

I'll see you back here with my reviews of Season 2.

See also The Killing on AMC and The Killing 1.3: Early Suspects ... The Killing 1.5: Memorable Moments ... The Killing 1.6: The Teacher ... The Killing 1.8: The Teacher, Again ... The Killing 1.9: The Teacher as Victim, Again ... The Killing 1.10: Running Out of Suspects ... The Killing 1.11: Rosie's Missing - from the Story ... The Killing 1.12: Is Orpheus the Killer?


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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

WikiLeaks and Democracy vs. the U.S. Government

Excellent, instructive segment on Dylan Ratigan's show on MSNBC last hour, with computer scientist David House describing his experience when summoned before the WikiLeaks grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia yesterday.

Just to be clear:  What's not at stake is the life of any American military personnel - VP Biden, Secretary of Defense Gates and others in the administration have repeatedly made that clear.   What is at stake is to what extent our government can conduct our foreign affairs in secret - that is, in a way that makes its action not accountable to our citizenry.

And this, in turn, puts our very democracy itself at risk.  For how we can elect our Representatives, Senators, and Presidents with any intelligence, if we are kept from knowing crucial things that they are doing in our name?

House made clear the way he was badgered during his testimony.   The Obama administration would do well to end this persecution as soon as possible - do well, that is, if it wants to live up to its 2008 campaign promise to bring a different kind of government to Washington.

In a world in which the new new media of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogging are bringing new life into democratic movements from North Africa to Spain, it is unacceptable that our democratic government continue the tradition of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the Nixon administration, China, Syria, and Iran of opposing the free flow of information. Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music